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muriel_volestrangler

(101,310 posts) Tue Jun 24, 2014, 01:11 PM Jun 2014

Doctors vote for ban on UK cigarette sales to those born after 2000

British Medical Association hails vote as step towards achieving goal of a tobacco-free society by 2035, but critics call it 'illiberal'

Doctors have voted overwhelmingly to push for a permanent ban on the sale of cigarettes to anyone born after 2000

The motion passed at the British Medical Association's annual representatives' meeting on Tuesday means that the doctors' union will lobby the government to introduce the ban, in the same way it successfully pushed for a ban on lighting up in public places and on smoking in cars carrying children, after votes in 2002 and 2011.

Tim Crocker-Buque, a specialist registrar in public health medicine, who proposed the motion, said it represented an opportunity to make the UK the first country to eradicate cigarettes. "Smoking is not a rational, informed choice of adulthood," he said. "Eighty per cent of smokers start as teenagers as a result of intense peer pressure.

"Smokers who start smoking at age 15 are three times as likely to die of smoking-related cancer as someone who starts in their mid-20s."

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/jun/24/cigarette-ban-british-medical-association

Not much chance of this becoming a government policy soon, I think, but it's interesting that it's out there.

5 replies

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Doctors vote for ban on UK cigarette sales to those born after 2000 (Original Post) muriel_volestrangler Jun 2014 OP

Just keep severely restricting where people can smoke. onehandle Jun 2014 #1

'Cause prohibition has worked sooooooo well for other drugs. KamaAina Jun 2014 #2

this one would probably be easier however whatthehey Jun 2014 #3

This would be prohibition before the addict starts muriel_volestrangler Jun 2014 #4

I notice that it kept saying 'cigarette' Erich Bloodaxe BSN Jun 2014 #5

onehandle

(51,122 posts)

1. Just keep severely restricting where people can smoke.

Reply to muriel_volestrangler (Original post)

Tue Jun 24, 2014, 01:38 PM

Jun 2014

That's been the best method of reducing the percentage of smokers.

Sidewalks, parks, and other shared public areas are the current target for restrictions.

KamaAina

(78,249 posts)

2. 'Cause prohibition has worked sooooooo well for other drugs.

Reply to muriel_volestrangler (Original post)

Tue Jun 24, 2014, 01:40 PM

Jun 2014

whatthehey

(3,660 posts)

3. this one would probably be easier however

Reply to KamaAina (Reply #2)

Tue Jun 24, 2014, 01:45 PM

Jun 2014

The reason this is unlikely is fiscal - tobacco taxation is hugely contributive to the Exchequer.

But banning tobacco in the UK would be much easier than most drug proscriptions. It is not likely to grow there, it's incredibly easy for customs sniffer dogs to detect, and it is very difficult to consume without detection. The guy with a cloud of smoke over his head and the pungent smell of tobacco about him is likely guilty.

muriel_volestrangler

(101,310 posts)

4. This would be prohibition before the addict starts

Reply to KamaAina (Reply #2)

Tue Jun 24, 2014, 01:47 PM

Jun 2014

so it's not like the prohibition of alcohol; and the effects of nicotine are not so noticeable, so not so like the illegal drugs. I can't see it happening soon because, although there isn't a constitutional "you can't discriminate between people on age grounds" route in the UK, it would still be a hard argument to put forward politically; and someone might manage to make a pseudo-constitutional appeal against it using European human rights law.

Erich Bloodaxe BSN

(14,733 posts)

5. I notice that it kept saying 'cigarette'

Reply to muriel_volestrangler (Original post)

Tue Jun 24, 2014, 02:45 PM

Jun 2014

rather than tobacco.

This is obviously a ploy by 'big cigar' to take over market share!

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